Joining The Audience Agency

I am really delighted to be joining The Audience Agency in the new role of Regional Director for the Midlands.

The Audience Agency is the national audience development agency for England. The organisation exists to help arts and cultural organisations acheive their goals, through supporting undertsanding and engaging with audiences. We’re specialists in audience information, and in turning that information into practical, effective actions. Ane we have a deep understanding of the challenges facing arts, heritage and cultural organisations in the current climate. We also have the tools and the skills your organisation needs to focus on its most valuable resource: its audience.

I’m really looking forward to working with the skilled and experienced team at The Audience Agency, and with arts and cultral organisations across the West and East Midlands. To make sure you know about the organisaiton as it grows and develops, make sure you sign up fo the emailing list. Or comtact me directly.

For the full press release click here.

 

Conviviality – the heart of arts engagement?

I recently had the pleasure of working with The Shape of Things, a wonderful crafts project that aimed to bring the work of new and emerging makers from diverse backgrounds to a mainstream audience.

It was a wonderful experience for me as the project was developed in such a way that artists, promoters, venues all worked together to develop the exhibtions and activities, and all participated in the audience development work.

In late summer last year we all took part in a one day discussion on the future for audience development in the crafts. The conversation took place in the beautiful Touchstones Gallery in Rochdale and included artists, writers, administrators, funders and audxience development specialists like me. The conclusion of the day, shouldn;t be surprising, but somehow it was. For those of us who work in tje arts sector it can be so easy to forget the experience of the arts when we are developing our funding  proposals, project outlines etc etc. This discussion, invigorated by the mixed group participating, celebrated the conviviality of participationa nd neoyment of the crafts – the way that the process of making or enjoying objects brings us together as inividuals.

I wrote a paper summarising the day and musing on this idea, it has been published on The Shape of Things website. Please let me know what you think!

http://theshapeofthings.org.uk/?id=107

 

New Year New You

Coaching can help you get new persepctives, unlock new ideas and refresh your attitude to work and life in general. A new coaching programme can feel just right at the start of a new year!

I have space for a few new coaching clients starting in February and March this year. If you are interested please get in touch. I offer the first exploratory session for free for new clients.

email: caroline@carolinegriffin.com

 

NEW Marketing surgeries for small organisations

I am now offering marketing surgery packagies for small and vokuntary sector arts organisations. These feature a scoping phone call, preparation and analysis, a 1-2-1 meeting plus follow up reporting. The idea is to provide a quick, targeted response to particular marketing problems. Surgeries are tailored to your particular needs but off the peg options include:

• identifying target audiences
• marketing materials review
• marketing strategy review

As a specialist in small and voluntary sector organisations all activities are tailored to the organisation, with an emphasis on avoiding market jargon and working with people who are not marketing specialists. There is also a focus throughout on resource management to make any suggestions manageable and appropriate to the size of the organisation.

Surgery packages cost £400 plus expenses and plus any mapping or reporting if required.

Please contact me for more information on caroline [@] carolinegriffin.com

 

 

Consultancy and coaching

I have put together an outline of all my consultancy and coaching services. Please see below:

Caroline Griffin Consultancy & Coaching Services, October 2011

Project Development, Direction & Management I am experienced in delivering large-scale collaborative audience development projects, such as A Night Less Ordinary (a national project offering free theatre tickets to 16-26 year olds) and The Big Picture (a West Midlands regional project that created a record-breaking photo montage from images submitted by the public). I also work with groups and partnerships on a strategic level, for example I worked with the Derbyshire Arts Development Group to produce an audience development framework for the region.

My skills in this area include:

• bringing together disparate organisations to find common ground and shared objectives
• developing audience development strategies, frameworks and plans based on data to form the basis of project planning
• working with funders and sponsors to finance and support projects
• managing project delivery teams, including freelancers and individuals from a variety of organisations working together
• dev eloping robust evaluation framework mechanisms
• flexible project management, responding quickly to new opportunities while retaining project focus.

Strategic audience development support I work with individual organisations on creating and delivery of audience development strategies and plans and audience focused organisational change projects. My skills in this area include:

• developing and delivering in-house and external consultations
• supporting in-house staff to create audience development plans
• providing support in using Arts Audiences Insight
• marketing audits and data analysis
• creating manageable delivery plans

Coaching I am an accredited Executive Coach, trained through the Cultural Leadership Programme and affiliated with the Association for Coaching.

As a coach I work with my coachees to create an open and supportive space to focus on achieving professional goals. It is a creative, warm and challenging process that helps individuals to:

-       Review and develop their sense of what really matters

-       Explore new approaches and create a sense of momentum to try them out

-       Get to know and cherish your strengths and explore how to use and develop them

-       Get out of a rut and feel refreshed

A coaching series usually consist of six  one to one-and-a-half hour sessions that take place once a month over six – eight months.

Training & Mentoring I am an experienced trainer and over the last few years have worked for Cultivate, the University of Nottingham, and the Arts Marketing Association (among others) to develop training courses on all aspects of marketing, audience development and particularly on marketing planning. Although usually delivered to a mixed group, training days can be adapted to be delivered to a small group in-house (for example new members of staff in a marketing team), and can be tailored, (for example, marketing for box office staff).

I am a trained and experienced mentor and have experience of working one-two-one with staff ib marketing and audience development roles at all levels of an organisation. Mentoring relationships generally last nine to twelve months and are focused on supporting entry into a new job, transition to a new role or a specific project.

Other services I also offer a variety of other practical marketing and audience development services using my experience in this area as required. For example, brochure development, evaluation, event and conference planning and writing grant applications.

Contact If you are interested in talking to me about a project please don’t hesitate to get in touch using the contact details below.

Caroline Griffin Caroline [@] carolinegriffin.com 07787 505166

 

Building Better Businesses – training opportunity

In October this year I will be leading a session called ‘Data for Marketing Campaigns in Small Organisations’ as part of the Building Better Businesses training scheme. This event is part of the Turning Point project and is aimed at small visual arts organisations. The programme as a whole includes 4 other training days including sessions on fundraising, advocacy and audience development. The sessions are free for organisations receiving Arts Council funding and are taking place at locations across the country. They can be booked online here.

 

Earlyarts Coaching Scheme

I’m delighted to have become an Earlyarts coach.

Earlyarts is the largest national network supporting people in the arts, culture, and early years sectors who work and play creatively with young children and their families. Earlyarts Members benefit from being connected with over 5,000 amazing people who inspire, inform, train, and help them to do their job better.

You can use the Earlyarts map to find coaches working on the scheme and if you are a Gold or Silver Earlyarts member you will get your first session for free.